I was wondering what is the best angle for max traction w/ an adj torque arm.. any help would be great.

a billion

a billion and one!

-3 -> -5 works pretty good to *hit* the tires good and hard.

Like everything else, it's a tuning aid so what works best on one vehicle probably isn't the best for another. -5 is an extreme for a drag only car. I'd keep it 0 to -3 at the most for a street tire car which only sees limited track time.

goin to ask the same question, i no that this is a question that has been asked a billion times but what is the accurate way to check for pinion angle. some direct me to a thread or just tell me.

Maybe my car is the exception to the rule,my pinion angle is set at -6 degrees,it hooks very hard and straight,I do drive it on the street this way,it is hard on the universals though, set that extreme.

http://www.carcraft.com/howto/91758/index.html
http://www.wolferacecraft.com/pinionangle.aspx
http://www.baselinesuspensions.com/info/pinionangle.htm

mine is set to -1 for street. when im done with the car and take it to the track i will go down to probably -5. but street ill leave it at -1

on the baseline suspension site, where the pic shows the rear and the drive shaft. its 8 degrees and the pinion is 10 that means its -18 degrees? or is it 2?

That's 18*. Only shown for example. Showing a 3* angle is hard to do. You want the same angles with the pinion pointed down in relation to the driveshaft. Under hard acceleration, the pinion will rotate upward to zero degrees. Leaf spring cars have a lot more rotation than coil spring cars that's why third gens don't need more than 5* at the most. For street use 1* is enough and 3-5* on the dragstrip.

i'm at -1.5 but all my suspension is rod end.

so u would want the drive shaft pointing down going from the tailshaft to the yoke and the pinion pointing down as well? my drive shaft was 1*down and my pinion as 1* does that mean mine is 2*negative?

Down is irrelevant. The pinion could be pointed upward from the ground and still have negative pinion angle in relation to the driveshaft.

If the back of the driveshaft is lower than the front and the front of the pinion is lower at the front than at the rear, then your 1* and 1* = 2 degrees negative pinion angle.

The reason down is irrelevant is that the pinion could be pointing up 3 degrees. If the driveshaft was pointing down 4 degrees, there would be a -1* pinion angle. 4x4's have angles like this.

Raising and lowering the ride height and raising or lowering the back of the transmission will change the pinion angles.

The driveshaft is level at 0*. The pinion is down 2* giving -2* pinion angle. The back of the transmission is raised slightly, maybe from a new tranny mount to replace the old worn out one. Now the driveshaft is down 1*. Added to the pinion's 2* and you get -3* pinion angle.

The driveshaft is level at 0*. The pinion is down 2* giving -2* pinion angle. You now put drop springs in the rear of the car. The pinion stays at 2* down but now the driveshaft is angled upward 1* because the diff sits higher in the body. The pinion angle now becomes -1* down.